Rupee, shares extend falls on geopolitical worries

The Indian rupee and shares extended losses in the afternoon session on Tuesday after the Russian defence ministry was quoted by a news agency as saying it had detected two ballistic "objects" fired towards the eastern Mediterranean.

Russian radar detected two ballistic "objects" that were fired towards the eastern Mediterranean from the central part of the sea on Tuesday, state-run news agency RIA quoted the defence ministry as saying. The defence ministry declined immediate comment to Reuters.

The partially convertible rupee dropped as much as 3.1% to 68.12 per dollar while the NSE share index dropped more than 3%.

The benchmark 10-year bond yield rose 10 basis points to 8.52% after the news. It had closed at 8.46% on Monday.